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Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

Just got tracking info for mine. Its in Lousiville and listed as "Import Scan" right now. Hope it gets through Customs. I originally ordered back in June and called last week to get a shipping update. They told me the order went out three days ago. What a coincidence!

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

"... From a posting on the Laser Pointer Forums (and used with explicit written consent; not just implied oral consent) comes the following {no changes to spelling, syntax or grammar were made}:

Hello everyone as you may know I've had my Arctics for a little while now....
About an hour into charging I heard an explosion & large flash and awful burning smell from the room the charger & batteries where. Both my Fire Alarm & Burglar Alarm went off at the same time.

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

Originally Posted by Shiftlock

I get the fire alarm, but how did it set off the burglar alarm? After exploding, did the battery tip-toe out of the charger and try to escape out the window?

Lots of burglar alarms are meant to detect people messing with windows. They do this with a foil on the edge of the glass that will break if the window is broken. Perhaps the explosion damaged the foil.

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

Originally Posted by AnAppleSnail

Lots of burglar alarms are meant to detect people messing with windows. They do this with a foil on the edge of the glass that will break if the window is broken. Perhaps the explosion damaged the foil.

Windows will shake at even the slightest explosion-the foil or piezo based alarms will often be set off by, say, a gas oven failing to ignite and causing a small explosion.

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

Well mine turned up today after an order made back on june the 25th .How long was that and the funny thing is it arrived UPS and i had a handleing charge of another £16.64 since then i have recieved a spartan 1Watter a custom build 1.2 watt and a very good quality 635 200mw rafoss so now it dosent seem quite as special as it could have if it had arrived a bit quicker .
And just to let you know i have my charger chargeing outside.

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

Originally Posted by Dave 300

Well mine turned up today after an order made back on june the 25th .How long was that and the funny thing is it arrived UPS and i had a handleing charge of another £16.64 since then i have recieved a spartan 1Watter a custom build 1.2 watt and a very good quality 635 200mw rafoss so now it dosent seem quite as special as it could have if it had arrived a bit quicker .
And just to let you know i have my charger chargeing outside.

I would be interested to hear how the Arctic compares to the other 445nm lasers you have there.

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

Originally Posted by Dave 300

Well mine turned up today after an order made back on june the 25th .How long was that and the funny thing is it arrived UPS and i had a handleing charge of another £16.64 since then i have recieved a spartan 1Watter a custom build 1.2 watt and a very good quality 635 200mw rafoss so now it dosent seem quite as special as it could have if it had arrived a bit quicker .
And just to let you know i have my charger chargeing outside.

same here. I too have received the spartan months ago. And have yet to fire it up, along with the other lasers ordered from other companies. In fact i hqve not posted at lpf in a long time.
The thrill is gone.
Have not been home. But i think my arctics have arrived.
How's ur arctic?

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

"... From a posting on the Laser Pointer Forums (and used with explicit written consent; not just implied oral consent) comes the following {no changes to spelling, syntax or grammar were made}:

Hello everyone as you may know I've had my Arctics for a little while now....
About an hour into charging I heard an explosion & large flash and awful burning smell from the room the charger & batteries where. Both my Fire Alarm & Burglar Alarm went off at the same time.

The WL 18650 battery had EXPLODED ...."

This is referring to the green "+ 18650 1300mAh -" cell.
WL has since chosen to supply what appears to be a 1400mAh MNKE LiMn cell.

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

Originally Posted by Shiftlock

I would be interested to hear how the Arctic compares to the other 445nm lasers you have there.

I had a quick go with my camera to get some pics of the Arctic , Spartan and the home build but i was getting alot of flash so i will post comparison pics soon as i get ten mins another day but as it goes the focusable home build at 1.2 mw has the best beam as it focusable the arctic has its g2 safety procedure which makes it quite unique and a fatter beam than the spartan but the spartan is mildly brighter than the arctic but has no charisma its just on off , at least the arctic is the one which really started it all off and wont be forgotten for a while even though it four months to the day to get here i kinda like it>>

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

Originally Posted by Dave 300

I had a quick go with my camera to get some pics of the Arctic , Spartan and the home build but i was getting alot of flash so i will post comparison pics soon as i get ten mins another day but as it goes the focusable home build at 1.2 mw has the best beam as it focusable the arctic has its g2 safety procedure which makes it quite unique and a fatter beam than the spartan but the spartan is mildly brighter than the arctic but has no charisma its just on off , at least the arctic is the one which really started it all off and wont be forgotten for a while even though it four months to the day to get here i kinda like it>>

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

There are coated single aspheric and multi-element lenses in standard "aixiz" lens barrels. Correcting for the different divergence relative to the axes is a bit more complicated, but can be done using external prisms or the right cylindrical lens.

fast axis collimation, anamorphic prisms, and beam correction are terms you can search for to get more information.

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

are these guys at WL a bad business?
I've heard their products burn out in days, even minutes, and as many as 2 out of three have technical problems. Also saw a youtube video where the guy's arctic focus was way off. Also saw one compared to the spartan by dragon lasers and from what I saw, the WL burned brighter and more visible but the dragon cut through the target in half the time.

Why is the WL so much more visible yet less hot? (sorry, I'm not an optics expert).

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

I don't know if anyone still cares, 2 years and 20+ pages of discussion later, but...
After all the hub-bub I decided to buy one of these. That was many months ago and mine is still running strong and have had zero problems with the laser. I picked the earlier generation one, even though I was given the choice of the earlier generation or the later generation. To be honest, fiddling with the switch seemed to be a pain in the butt. I am glad I got the older version. I want to push a button and get the maximum beam immediately.

However.

When I got it, I plugged in the charger and it POPPED loudly and quit working. I had to ask them to send a replacement. Also, I had to ask them twice to send the free laser glasses and lens cleaner pen they promised. When it looked like those items wouldn't come, I put in a complaint with my credit card company.

Funniest part of the story- I got a full refund on the credit card, and a few weeks later all the stuff they owed me showed up. The laser has been working fine ever since, but I don't keep it on more than a minute or so at a time.

The beam is somewhat rectangular, but it's mostly just for showing off, not doing DIY holography

Re: Wicked Lasers 445nm 1W(!) portable deathray

Yes, this can destroy your eyes (detaching your retina instantly up close or by reflection). Stage lasers can damage camera sensors permanently, but usually trigger the human blink reflex in time. One concern is that cheap green lasers emit a lot of infrared light that does not activate the blink reflex but still heats the eye.